Hamilton chairman Les Gray is worried by loss of support

Hamilton are doing well in the SPFL Championship, but still don't attract a large support (Image: Ian McFadyen)

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Les Gray is delighted that Hamilton Accies are in such a strong position, but concerned that they’ve lost hundreds of supporters.

The New Douglas Park club is debt free and the team is sitting second in the SPFL Championship a point behind leaders Dundee, yet people have been voting with their feet.

Les and the board are trying to get people to come back, but he admits the loss of support has been baffling.

He said: “We’ve probably got the smallest support in the league, and it’s a real problem. We have a better distribution of wealth, but we just don’t have enough fans coming in through the gate.

“We’re hearing that in Scottish football, across the board, fan levels are consistent if you take Rangers out of the equation, but it’s not the same for us — we’re 400-500 people down.

“We don’t know where those people have gone, and we’ve tried to engage with them. I’ve had three or four fans’ forums in the last 12 months; we’ve talked to them, we’ve encouraged them, but largely speaking we’re talking to the people who come, not the ones that don’t.

“People like our acting chief executive Colin McGowan and the commercial guys are trying to talk to people, trying to get to those that don’t come, trying to generate interest, to get them to bring kids or their friends. Guys like George Cairns, our Academy and community manager and head of youth, is out there in schools, getting kids in off the streets and getting them into a safe place, but it largely goes unrecognised.

“All we can do is keep trying, but there are more buses going out of here to Celtic and Rangers than there are coming to Hamilton Accies.

“It’s crucially important to get those fans back, but it’s a big bug-bear for the fans that the owner, Ronnie MacDonald, used to say we don’t really need the fans.

“What he meant was that the club is self-funding and the fans just add a wee bit to it.

“That all changes when you lose 500 fans, you’re in a different league, and you do need the money.”